The Flat Friends (ROOM MATES BOOK 2)

Chapter 17 - the world as we know it

He placed it in Lucy's hands.

A polaroid.

The polaroid.

"I-It's-"

"The picture of us, yup." He finished her sentence, his eyes locked on her face that looked down at the image in her hand - she was shocked, confused and it broke him - but then a smile crept up. The picture of the two of them at the waterpark, the one Lucy had found in her room only days before. "I have one too."

The blonde waisted no time when she suddenly turned to the side and began digging around in her bag that was lay in the footwell of the cars passenger seat. She pulled out her own copy of the picture and held it up next to his - as if trying to prove to her mind she wasn't loosing it. There really were two.

"Oh my God..." She turned too him, wide eyed - all her emotions flooded to her and before she knew it tears were leaving trails down her face. "I can't believe this is happening. I've missed you so much, and you've been here the whole time." She sobbed.

Natsu's heart broke.

He leaned toward the girl and wrapped his arms around her as she sank into his chest, uncontrolled whimpers escaping her mouth as her tears soaked his clothes. He held on to her tight; a hand tracing circles across her back to comfort her - as if to smooth out the wrinkles of emotion that were making her so unsteady.

"I've missed you too." He replied, burying his face into her hair and closing his eyes. It was a moment he needed to savour - it was impossible to know when the next thing would go wrong. He kissed the side of her hair - something he used to do in the past whenever she was upset - and seemed to comfort her.

Eventually he pulled away from her, grazing a thumb under her eyes to clear any tears that lingered. Her glazed eyes looking up at him only served to kill him inside even more. He couldn't even imagine what she'd been going through. At least all this time he was aware of himself and her - whereas she thought she was totally alone.

"So... Do you have any idea what's going on? This whole thing, the restarts...?" She asked him, the question that had really been eating away at her this whole time.

His face seemed to go a little blank at her question, draining from any kind of emotion that he previously held there. He seemed to stare out the cars window - looking at the endless amount of trees around them.

"No." He stated. "I have absolutely idea."

He looked defeated. Sounded defeated. Was defeated.

"Trust me, I've been trying to figure it out this whole time - partly a reason why I hadn't told you anything earlier." He continued. "But as soon as you showed me the picture you'd found, I new something was up - some kind of error or loop hole."

"And I'm guessing that's why nothing has restated just yet - usually it would restart as soon as I went against whatever was supposed to happen."

Natsu nodded, a look in his eyes she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was distant and far away, but thoughtful. She could tell he had a lot on his mind.

"Lucy... I'm scared." He spoke after a short silence, but it was a silence long enough to make his words stand out just that little bit more. She hadn't realised theirs hand retangling together, almost like magnets that couldn't be separated - his fingers brushed against hers, back and forth like windwipers on a car, except soft and gentle. "I'm scared, when it will restart again, we'll be right back at the beginning."

"I'm scared too, Natsu." She replied and when she looked at him he could see the fear engraved into his face. What had he been through?

"I don't think I can deal with it starting again... I'll go crazy."